# Turn off auto backup of config.idb **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Tags:** ignition80\ **Created:** [June 9, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610 "2021-06-09T18:25:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tmahaffey](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tmahaffey/32/30949_2.png) [@tmahaffey](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tmahaffey)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 6:25pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/1 "2021-06-09T18:25:44Z")
Can someone please tell me how we turn this off? We to a full gateway backup and so we don’t need this done automatically several times a day. ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 6:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/2 "2021-06-09T18:34:06Z")
~~You can modify the `gateway.xml` file in your data directory, specifically the `context.startup.useautobackups` key.~~ ~~You must set it to an explicit value of `false` for autobackups to be disabled, because autobackups are a useful safety measure - they protect against inadvertent DB corruption, and act as an emergency fallback measure in case of inadvertent unrecoverable changes (i.e. deleting all the tags in a provider).~~ This is wrong, see more context below. ---
**Author:** ![tmahaffey](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tmahaffey/32/30949_2.png) [@tmahaffey](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tmahaffey)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 7:27pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/3 "2021-06-09T19:27:09Z")
where is the backup db file stored? ---
**Author:** ![kcollins](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/kcollins/32/19646_2.png) [@kcollins](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kcollins)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2021, 8:43pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/4 "2021-06-09T20:43:14Z")
The backups are stored under `data/db/autobackups` (relative to your Ignition installation). ---
**Author:** ![nminchin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/nminchin/32/6911_2.png) [@nminchin](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/nminchin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 9:34pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/5 "2021-06-10T21:34:24Z")
> [@paul-griffith](#): > > deleting all the tags in a provider Can I assume that a backup is then made before a tag deletion happens? That would be super useful to know at times ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2021, 9:38pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/6 "2021-06-10T21:38:15Z")
Nope. Autobackups happen on the schedule settings provided in gateway.xml. They’re not guaranteed to happen before any particular thing in the software - it’s just that _generally_ they’re no more than a few hours old, so if something catastrophic happens, they can be a useful “oh s$&!” backup. ---
**Author:** ![kyle.demerath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5e9695/32.png) [@kyle.demerath](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kyle.demerath)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/7 "2022-03-30T20:45:47Z")
Is there any way to change where the backup files get saved - like to another disk for instance? Additionally - what is all saved in the auto backup? I can’t seem to find documentation on that. Is it redundant if I am taking a full gateway backup? I ask because the auto backups increase the writes and erases on a cFast card, contributing to wear. ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [March 30, 2022, 9:11pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/8 "2022-03-30T21:11:58Z")
You can’t redirect the autobackups. They’re just full copies of the SQLite internal DB file - distinctly _less_ than a full gateway backup. If you’ve got scheduled .gwbks happening, autobackups aren’t strictly required. ---
**Author:** ![tmahaf](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/tmahaf/32/23492_2.png) [@tmahaf](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/tmahaf)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 3:55pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/9 "2023-02-02T15:55:13Z")
Hey there. I have context.startup.useautobackups to false. The server is still performing them several times a day. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/e/f/ef3215af71bc5c89c1e5d2308026f7baf743b3a3.png) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/0/8/08783438e1e526501bf0bc186f9e8dd5674a0fc6.png) What else might be causing this to happen? You can see from the timestamps in my logs that it happened three times in the course of only a few minutes with the flag set to false. ---
**Author:** ![paul-griffith](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/paul-griffith/32/37249_2.png) [@paul-griffith](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/paul-griffith)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/turn-off-auto-backup-of-config-idb/47610/10 "2023-02-02T16:18:51Z")
Looks like I was wrong back in 2021. You need to set the autobackup _count_ (`localdb.autobackup.count`) to 0 to prevent the creation of autobackups; the `context.startup.useautobackups` setting only tells the system not to _use_ autobackups. [https://files.inductiveautomation.com/sdk/javadoc/ignition81/8.1.24/com/inductiveautomation/ignition/gateway/localdb/sqlite/SQLiteDBManager.html#autoBackupsEnabled](https://files.inductiveautomation.com/sdk/javadoc/ignition81/8.1.24/com/inductiveautomation/ignition/gateway/localdb/sqlite/SQLiteDBManager.html#autoBackupsEnabled)